Arnold had asked if Regina could come and meet him at his office in Avalon. At the time the meeting is scheduled the club has closed for the night, and Regina passes the cleaning crew as they vacuum the floors. They pay her no attention. An attractive man with spiked hair and tattooed forearms intercepts her and escorts her up to the manager's office where the Reeve is waiting behind his desk.

Arnold receives her with a smile "Thank you for coming, Councilor Pia. Please, have a seat."

Regina returns the smile. "It is always a pleasure, Councilor Culler. Thank you." She takes the seat. "How are you faring these nights? I trust all is well?" She would be a piss-poor Spina if she was not polite and began with pleasantries. After all, this is the Society.

"I have been well, thank you. Yourself?" Arnold replies

"Things are going well. Mister Emmet has expressed interest in joining the Guild, and if he proves himself through Preparation, we will soon have another Knight."

"That is good news." Arnold says, nodding in approval. His gaze fixes on Regina "So you are interested in becoming a Reeve's Deputy?"


"I am interested, yes, on the condition that it does not detract from my responsibilities to the covenant. However, I have strong faith in you that they will not conflict overmuch. I was also interested in what you were thinking of purchasing which would benefit from my financial aid?"

"You've nothing to fear there. Your sworn duties to the First Estate will be allowed to take priority in matters that require it. You're not the only one being considered for the role of Deputy, and I hope to have other Kindred who can be there if you cannot."

"As to the matter of finances. It has been a... lucrative month for me. Some of my personal ventures have returned considerable gains to me and it looks as if I may not be in need of assistance either way. To satisfy your interest, I'll tell you that it is my intent to purchase the Monte Cristo Hotel."

"My congratulations to you Councilor, and wish you the best of luck in that venture. I then would likely be purchasing Zocalo's, adding it to our holdings. Regretablly, with the Dhaka's new management and other facilities requiring so much of my attention currently, I am unable to dedicate the time neccessary to acquring the funds for a larger property." She seems quite pleased with the affair.

"Any new holdings for us is a good thing." Arnold nods. "I'd like to know more about you, Councilor, if you don't mind. I know you are Daeva, and that you are an honorable warrior, but little else. What would you have me know about you?"

"I am a Daeva of the Spina bloodline, and becoming a knight has been my deathrite. I was born over a hundred and fifty years ago, a princess of a unified Italy. I was embraced into the Invictus, and here I shall remain until the Apocalypse." She says quite candidly. "Councilor Culler, If i may, I would like to know more about you."

Arnold leans back in his chair, steepling his fingers. People rarely asked him about himself, for one reason or another, and there were certain aspects of his past that he preferred kept secret. Regina had been present in the Dream, however. She had seen him as he had been once.

"I lived as a slave in the American South of the 19th century. I escaped my... master.. and was embraced by a traveling Nosferatu, primarily because the man was lonely. When I ultimately came to Jackson, Mississippi I supported the rise of an Invictus Shadow to the rank of Prince and in return he sponsored me for membership into the First Estate and gave me the position of Archon. I held that office for many years until the Carthian Movement staged a hostile takeover of the Domain. I was barely able to escape Jackson, while my Prince and his retinue all met Final Death. I wandered for a time, afterward, trying to find a new home. That is when I found my way to Sacramento."

"If you don't mind my asking, how do you know the Prince? There seems to be almost two groups, those like me, who came after the lost nights, and those who were before, like Viscount Twist and Priscus Konstantine."

"The first time I met Prince Clarke was at the first Invictus meeting I attended. He was Deputy, then, to Ishani Naetesh who was Sheriff. Before the Lost Nights our kind was dealing with a progenitor. A truly ancient Ventrue we knew only as Bethem. He killed off the Prince at the time, and many of the most powerful Kindred of the city. I, and some others including Priscus Malevich and Jayant of the Circle, had just engaged the fiend in battle in the sewers when the Lost Nights struck. Some of us survived the Night, others did not."

"To address your question again, the Prince and I have not known each other long. We are allies not because of time spent in each others company, but rather because we have been side-by-side in keeping this city from being utterly destroyed."

"Does that answer your question?"

"Indeed, your answers have proven most enlightening. I must admit that my knowledge of american history is quite limited, so I know little about slavery in the American South." She enunciates the words very carefully, as if she's saying them for the first time. Which she very well might be. "What was it like, if you do not mind my asking."

Arnold frowns. It was an unpleasant thing to recall, but he wouldn't refuse Regina an answer. "I had no rights or property. As a child I was taken from my parents and sold to another owner. I never saw them again. As an adult I would not be so easily subjugated, as a result I beaten until the sting of the lash was as familiar as the sun on my back. When you spend your life in the oppressive sunlight, laboring under harsh task masters, then you find you don't miss it as much."

"I was lucky, I managed to escape that life years before the slaves were freed in America. I will never be another man's property. In the Invictus I have an opportunity to become master, rather than slave."

Regina notices the man's frown, "I have caused you distress, please forgive me. I did not mean for you to touch upon memories that were private." She apologies, "And look how far you have come. A councilor of the Invictus, Reeve of the Domain, Priscus of your clan. Knowing your origins, I say that your rise to power is a model for others to follow. I started high and have stayed there, but you have come up from the fields to the Keep of the Castle." She is clearly impressed with Arnold's accomplishment.

Arnold makes a dismissive gesture. Nonetheless, he seems pleased by Regina's compliment. "It is the past, and as you say I have never let it hold me back. I should remember it more often, as a reminder of where I come from, and as a warning that power is earned and not granted."

"Anyway. I will be glad to accept your services as Deputy, Councilor Knight Pia. Would you prefer to begin immediately?"

"Lord Reeve Culler, how might I serve this night?" Regina asks, the barest whisp of a smile.

"Beyond keeping an eye out for new Kindred in Sacramento, I have a task for you. Dirge of the Circle of the Crone brought to my attention a vagrant who seems to know to much. A homeless man, blind I believe, who refers to himself as The Reverend. As I said, he speaks much of what he should not know. I instructed the woman to kill him, as I believed it would have been a simple task - murdering a blind man. It has nearly been two months and she has not reported to me that the task has been done. Speak to her and ensure that the job is done. Get her to help, if you can, but do not let her hold you back."

"He shall not live long. Do you have a way that I might contact Dirge?" She may as well have just said that it was going to rain tonight. There is no concern in her eyes for this murder.

As she speaks Arnold writes on a strip of paper "I will warn you, Dirge herself is also blind. She seemed up to the task when I spoke of her, however. As I said, do not allow her to hold you back from achieving your goal." He passes the paper over to Regina. On it is Dirge's information.

"I want this done quickly. I have waited long enough to receive news of this man's death, and there are other pressing matters to attend to."

"Much as I detest unsportsmanlike violence, in this case, I understand your desire entirely. It shall be done." She takes the paper, stands, bows as appropriate to thier stations, and leaves.